The Kevin Sheehan Show - If No Gregg Williams, Then Who?

Episode Date: January 16, 2019

Kevin starts the show talking about the Redskins failing to land Gregg Williams and what/who is next up to replace Greg Manusky. He brings on JP Finlay/NBC Sports Washington to talk about coaching staff possibilities and more. Will Alabama QB transfer Jalen Hurts end up at Maryland? Jeff Ermann/InsideMDSports joined the show to discuss. Kevin talks Caps, Georgetown, Virginia, and also mentioned the possibility of Maryland playing an NCAA Tournament game(s) in DC. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now, here's Kevin. All right, I'm here. Aaron's here. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. J.P. Finley will join us in about 20 minutes. Also, Jeff Irman, who covers Maryland will be with us. We'll talk some hoops with them. But really, the story in College Park. may be that Maryland has emerged as the favorite to land Alabama quarterback transfer, Jalen Hertz. So we will catch up with Jeff on that a little bit later on in the program. Great basketball last night on the college level and on the NBA level. Golden State recorded 51 points in the first quarter en route to a route over the nuggets. And Virginia last night, and this is what I watched last night.

Virginia absolutely took apart Virginia Tech, who was rated number nine in the land. Virginia Tech was ninth ranked coming in to Charlottesville last night. God, Virginia is good. They are so good, but they are also so vulnerable, as we know, in a one-and-done format, in a low-possession game to having a bad night and being bounced. I mean, you can say that about a lot of teams, but in their case, because of the way, they play the way Tony Bennett coaches that team. It's a, it's typically a low possession game, which gives a lesser talented team more of an opportunity. Anyway, they looked great last night,

and they are great. Georgetown lost to Marquette, but they played well. I really like this kid, Mac MacLougham, and I like Jesse Govan a lot, too. And I actually think Georgetown is getting the most out of what they have when I've watched them anyway, Aaron. Now, last night, um, the, the crazy score for Marquette was hurt early in that game and didn't play Marcus Howard. Yes. And didn't play a lot of that game. But Georgetown's pretty decent. They're going to beat some people this year.

They're going to win some games against some teams you don't think they should beat. And Marquette is a top 15 team right now, and they had a chance to beat them last night. You know, this might not seem like a big deal, especially to, you know, kind of people who aren't the biggest fans. But they're probably in NIT and probably a solid N. IT team this year? Oh, definitely a solid NIT team, I would think. They have, in recent games, they have been competitive in just about every game they've played recently. You know, I saw the game, you've been to several of their games. I saw the game

Saturday late and then the overtimes against Providence. They were close against Xavier, very close against St. Johns. They beat Butler. They could have easily beaten, you know, Marquette, who I think is, what, 13 or 14 in the country. Right. They had a shot against Syracuse, certainly earlier in the year. They're a good basketball team. They're a good team. What's interesting about the Big East, and we'll just have to watch the Big East,

is Villanova did not get off to a great start in the non-conference, but they are obviously playing much better now that league play has started. I don't think they've lost in the Big East yet. Marquette's really good. Xavier's decent. Seton Hall, we've seen them. They beat Maryland. You know, they've got a couple of big wins to their credit this year.

I think Georgetown's right, you know, there's not a dominant team in the Big East this year. And what is Georgetown right now? Are they 500 in the Big East? I think they just dropped a game under. Okay. Two and two going to go into this. All right. So they're two and three in the Big East. I mean, they're going to have a chance to finish in the top three or four in the Big East. I think that that's not nuts.

All right. This is what I wanted to get to. The possibility of Greg Williams coming to Washington was a big part of the show yesterday. and it turned out the way we thought it would that he was using Washington more likely than not as leverage to get a better deal in New York. Nobody really wants to come here unless they have to. Grant Paulson from 1067 tweeted out this morning,

earlier this morning, that longtime linebackers coach Kirk Olivadati was granted permission by the team to interview for the same job with the Green Bay Packers. So Olive Addi, who's been there forever, could be the second Redskins assistant under contract to leave for another organization as a lateral move. Same job. Not an upgraded job. Same job.

Ben Kotweko was the first. He's in Atlanta as the special teams coach. And now Oliver Addi wants to get out of Dodge. You know, as I've mentioned in the past, I think there are others. I'd still be surprised if Bill Callahan ended up here. very surprised if he ended up here so few if any from the outside want to come here and there are at least a few that are here that one out there's no emotion in that that's just fact two coaches under contract that we know of one out all right one left one wants to leave i believe there are more and the

attempt to replace defensive coordinator gregg minusky has not gone so well has it because the coaches they've talked to have landed elsewhere there are a lot of specific things here beyond just the obvious, which is the place is considered to be a very difficult place to win, Washington is, because A, it hasn't won, and B, the front office is bad. Those are just facts. The rest of the league believes Washington to be a very difficult place to win, and the record over the last quarter century backs that up. The rest of the league's owners and front office people and coaches look at Washington, and they believe that, the organization is poorly run and has been for a long time.

Sally Jenkins in her column a few weeks back, quoting a longtime NFL executives saying, quote, if there's one thing that NFL owners don't like, it's apathy in a major market. They are especially bothered by the apathy in the nation's capital, where they rely on strong interest and relationships to protect their business practices. Washington, D.C. is Washington, D.C.,

and there's a trickle-down effect, and NFL owners put the blame for the bleeding of goodwill squarely on the so-called management of Snyder and his pal team president Bruce Allen, who they regard as literally a joke. Close quote. That from Sally's column a few weeks ago. This is what's being said. These are facts. This is what's being said out there.

Not media created bitterness. Not media created taint. it's just a fact right now that the organization is at the bottom of the barrel of sports organizations in North America. Ranking them would be more of an opinion than fact, but based on the facts, most reasonable people would come to the conclusion that the Redskins are in the bottom 10% or so of professional sports franchises in this country anyway. So where do you go from here? there's one thing Dan Snyder can do, absent of selling the team, which he's not going to do. And that is to do what we all want him to do. And those of us that still care to a certain degree want him to do and have wanted him to do for a long time.

And that is fire Bruce Allen, apologize for his franchise's performance on and off the field, take all of the blame, and then pay someone a fortune, and give that son. contractual autonomy to come here and attempt to fix it. And I say fortune and total autonomy because that's basically the only way you're going to find a person with a legitimate resume to even consider attempting to fix this. How detached is the team's social media department from the market in which it operates? This is funny because somebody sent this to me, and actually my son also pointed this out to me early this morning. Their Twitter account is just, it's a dumpster fire like the organization in terms of everything they put out. It doesn't matter the nature or the tone of the tweet or the Instagram or Facebook post.

The reaction is overwhelmingly the same all the time, but this one caught the attention of a few of you. I got a kick out of it as well. They tweeted out either early yesterday or maybe it was the day before. Will the Redskins use their first round selection on a wide receiver for the second time in four years? And then they attach a mock draft, CBS Sports.com's latest mock draft that has Kelvin Harmon, an NC statewide receiver to the Redskins. The best part about this is just to read the responses. Response number one.

Before the draft, the Redskins should hashtag fire Bruce Allen and bring on someone competent. Then somebody put together a bit of a poem. Sad time for fans, enough is enough, losing all the time, losing every year. Time has come, here it is. End of an era. Time for change, everyone knows,

and you know too, make the move. Hashtag fire Bruce Allen. You know, there are mean, there are photos, there are dumpster fire graphics. Here's one. I'd trade the first rounder for you to fire Bruce Allen. And then many of them, you know, include a lot of profanity. I mean, a lot of profanity.

It's just incredible to go through their social media responses. I have never in my life seen a response like this to this football team. Never. I've never seen so many people so in line with what must happen. By the way, I totally understand the job, you know, in the time of year, and the challenge in producing content, when you work in the capacity of these people who are in these social media departments. You're being asked to send out, you know, a certain.

number of tweets and Instagram and Facebook posts every day and trying to be creative and trying to get people interested. I just hope from their standpoint that they're having a good time with the responses because at some point you just have to laugh. It's overwhelming. And you know what? If the hashtag fire Bruce Allen movement had a true leader, they should be fearful of an attempted coup. There's no real organization to this. You know, I I don't think there's a leader of this, but my God, are people or what's left? See, I actually think this has melded the two groups that Tommy and I talked about yesterday. I think there are basically three big buckets of Redskin fans right now.

The Harvest Fest group, the people that are never going to think they'll do anything wrong, I think that's at max 10% of what's left of the fan base. I think that's generous. Yeah, and it might be generous. I think 50% of the fan base has checked out. They're apathetic, they're indifferent, they've moved on. It's going to be very, very hard to get those people back without not only winning, but winning with a certain level of decorum, believe it or not.

I know that that sounds ridiculous, but I think the 50% that have become completely indifferent, apathetic, and have basically checked out, haven't just checked out because of the mediocrine, and the losing, it's the way they've done it. So they're going to want more than just winning to jump back in. And then 40% or so is this angry mob of hashtag fire Bruce Allen people. And I think that group has meshed a little bit with the apathetic and indifferent group, which sort of is in conflict with apathy and indifference. However, I think the apathetic and indifferent are like,

wow, this is crazy. Yeah, I'll throw in a fire hashtag, you know, a hashtag fire Bruce Allen as well. Why not? Yeah. And that's why I was saying that this weekend and the decision, the announcement and the reaction from the announcement felt different because I think it has melded those groups and sent them. And really, you have some of the angry people moving towards indifference, some of the indifferent people, even though they're indifferent, are still angry anyways. Yeah. So I think you're getting this melding and it does feel really different from any of these other past moments we've had. At the very least, those that have checked out are paying attention to this because it's actually on some level, some gross level, entertaining to follow because it's just so, so incredibly nasty towards one person in particular. Well, two people.

Yeah, but really it's more Bruce. It's more Bruce. Because I think people recognize they can't do anything about Dan. And that's the thing. The anger is towards Dan, but they can't do anything about Dan, so the anger goes to Bruce. Back to the team for a moment. They clearly want to replace Greg Minnowski. Adam Schaefter confirmed that the Redskins were very, very interested in Greg Williams.

They couldn't get him. So they clearly want to replace Greg Minusky. They have had interest or at least conversations with Todd Bowles, Steve Wilkes, and Greg Williams, and they didn't get any of them. If you're Minuscchi, it's obviously uncomfortable, but he's still under contract. And unlike Kotwika and perhaps Alavaddi, if he leaves, there may not be any interest from other teams in Minusky. In fact, I would bet that there's not any interest from other teams in Minusky

to make a lateral move to a defensive coordinator position. So if there's no lateral move for him, if he wanted to leave, he'd have to take a lesser job, say linebackers coach, and maybe there is a place for him somewhere in the league as a linebacker's coach, but he can't leave for a lesser job. So the skins right now have him under contract. They don't have a replacement for him, but they want a replacement for him. So they may need him to stay on and coach, which may seem awkward, but hopefully

Minuski can rise above it. And I would guess that knowing a little bit about him that he can. Now, I think he, like Jay, is average at what he does. I don't think he's providing any real advantage from an X's and O's standpoint. He's not terrible. There are worse, but there are better, like you can say about the head coach as well. You can't say that about Wind Donation. They are the best, at least in my view.

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Let's get the show on the road. Get two free windows for every two you buy, plus zero percent financing. Call wind donation today at 86690 Nation or visit wind donation.com. That's 86690 Nation or wind donation.com and tell them that I sent you. All right, let's welcome in J.P. Finley from NBC Sports, Washington. You, we did, Tommy was with me yesterday. We spent a lot of time talking about Greg Williams and the possibility. And my sense of it was that he would end up in New York and he would use Washington as leverage, etc. You were the one that broke the story, that the Redskins, that he had not yet signed his deal in New York and that the Redskins were still pursuing him.

How serious were the Redskins and how close did they get? I think how serious were the Redskins, the Skins won. him. Everybody I talked to, all the info I got, the skins were into this thing. Now, I think you're right. I kind of said all along, I thought Greg Williams was going to use the opportunity of taking a meeting with the Redskins or just their interest to kind of hammer home whatever it is he wanted to finalize with the Jets, whether that was money or personnel control over the defensive side of the football. You know, we still haven't seen or heard exactly how that shook out with New York. But I think the skins were into it. How serious was Greg Williams about ever coming

back to Ashburn? That's a different question that I don't know the answer to. What about Grant's report this morning that Oliver Dottie now is looking to get out in the same way that Bencott-Weika did? I mean, it's tough because like everything that happens with the skin is always kind of looked at with this nefarious conspiracy theory. But assistant coaches in the NFL move around a pretty good amount. And Kirk Alavaddi's been there a long time. So I don't want to put, I don't know that it means he's unhappy or the team is trying to get rid of him or any of that.

He's a good guy, good coach, been there a while. He's been there through a lot of different administrations, too, which is not always the case. I think losing Kotweka is a bigger deal than kind of maybe we made about it. I know that folks weren't happy with the return game, but as far as terrible special teams like the Redskins had for a number of years where just boneheaded special teams gaffs were kind of the norm. I think Kotika straightened a lot of that out.

I think he developed some pretty good tackling guys on the outside. Off the top of my head, really the only bad special teams. team's play I remember from this past season was the punt return in Jacksonville that Byron Marshall tackled the wrong guy out of pound. Right, right. Yeah, so it's interesting. You're right. I'm sure there were more. That's just probably. You're right about coaches moving laterally. These two coaches were under contract for another year. I think there's more to it than that, JP. I think, you know, I don't think they're the last to go, and I don't think they're among the that want to leave. Now, part of that is only natural if they believe the situation is dire for

Jay Gruden a year from now, right? So if you're if you're head coach, if you're projecting that your head coach has a year left to win or that's it and you look at the team and you say, we're a long way from winning at that level, then maybe, you know, you look to move now and you look to make a, you know, a preemptive move. That's not. necessarily unusual. But my sense of it is, and I'm wondering if it's yours as well, if Kotwika and Alavaddi are the last. No, I don't think so. I mean, the situation with Greg Minnowski's got to be really, really awkward over there. They've now reached out to or talked with probably the two of the biggest names that were on the

defensive coordinator kind of coaching cycle in Todd Bowles, we know they had a meeting with Steve Wilkes, I think NFL Network reported that. They wanted a meeting with Greg Williams. That is incredibly awkward. There's still kind of this Bill Calfan situation that seems like something's got to give there. I mean, Cooley's been talking about it for months that the run game and the past game don't sync up. This past season, I think, you know, sometimes Kirk Cousins doesn't get a ton of credit.

But Kirk did a good job of selling play action when he was here. As a play action passer, he was fairly effective. The play action went away this year. And maybe some of that was just that the past game wasn't really effective in general. But it didn't seem like, you know when you have a Mac and a PC and then you just can't like take one program to the next, that's what the run game and the past game kind of seemed like for the 2018 Redskins. And I don't know that the blame solely lands on Bill Kow.

But somewhere there seemed to be a divide. So I think if you're at, you know, will coaching changes stop? I don't, I don't think so. I mean, we still don't entirely know what happened with Tori and Gray, right? Like, there hasn't been anything official there. They're going to need a DB's coach. I think there's plenty more to kind of get sorted out. You know, you just mentioned something.

And it's been, you know, a few weeks since we've actually talked about the team and the team's performance specifically. but one of the things it was surprising throughout the years, this was one of the first years in a long, long time. They were actually at times very effective running the football, and yet they were struggling to throw it. And I early on did not understand why Jay Gruden's quick West Coast pass offense wasn't employed more with the quarterback that was perfect for that.

You know, his last quarterback, you know, Cousins was perfect for that West Coast scheme and getting it out quickly and benefited from that. And then the play action off of, you're right, he was a good play action quarterback, but I thought Alex Smith could be a good play action quarterback as well. But, man, the two things just didn't come together the way you thought they should have, given JP, that they had some success in those first seven, eight games running the football. Yeah, you know what was weird, and I think, especially now seeing how the season ended, and, you know, a lot of fans kind of are demanding change

and it doesn't appear that really any significant change is happening. Everybody goes back to six and three in week 10 and how real was it, how sustainable was it. And as much as the defense gave up stinkers in two of those three losses, I just got blown away by the Saints and the Falcons, the offense never really worked either. And I think on a lot of levels, that was what was so surprising because when the kids made,

made the trade for Alex Smith, I thought he would step in and run the offense certainly as efficiently as Kirk. I didn't expect the precipitous drop-off in pass yards that we saw. And I know that you could make the case that in the years prior, he was not going deep and all that. And there's a very legitimate case, but he was still, like, running good offense. I know he wasn't a 4,000-yard passer, but he was like. like a 3,700-yard passer. I haven't run the numbers, but I can't imagine he was anywhere close

to that sort of pace before he got hurt. And as much as we're focused on what happened to the defense in the second half of the season when they couldn't stop the run and all that, like why wasn't the past game working? The flip side is it might not really be worth investigating because I don't think Alex is going to be your quarterback in 2019, and I don't know if he's going to be your quarterback beyond that. Yeah, it's interesting about Alex. Smith, JP, and just going back and trying to fix all that was, you know, an issue with him in the offense, because he more likely than not won't play in 2019, right? Or what's the latest on that? Hard to believe he's playing in 2019, especially early on, training camp, any of that.

I mean, the last picture we saw of him, I think, was still in a wheelchair. The kind of surface-level conversations I've had around Redskins Park and folks that know a little bit is that it doesn't seem like 2019 is really in play or at least early on. You mentioned something, too, that I had this conversation on the podcast and even with Tommy yesterday, you know, the six and three and some of the people that think, hey, we were right there. I don't feel that way. I liked the way they were playing. I mean, those are two different conversations. I thought they were playing good, sound, smart football, but I didn't think they were close to anything, you know, other than maybe a 9-and-7 type of season, you know, in a bad division that might get you into the playoffs.

How did you feel about that at 6-3? I know it's been a while since we've talked about it. We've talked about it before, but you just mentioned it. Yeah, I think maybe they could have gotten to 10-and-6 if things broke right, but looking at what just happened in the divisional round, could the skins compete with the Rams and the Saints? No way. I mean, we saw what happened when they tried to compete with the Saints in New Orleans. And, you know, the Rams, maybe you like to think you can slow them down and grind it out,

but the Cowboys tried that. It didn't work. I'm not convinced that the team that, you know, played so well in October couldn't have beat, you know, a wild card round team, but I don't think they were a serious contender in the same way. even the Cowboys or the Eagles late in the year looked like they had something different than the skins did and whether or not that's Nick Foles related for Philly, I don't know.

But it's just crazy because, you know, three months ago, the skins looked like they were going to win the division title. And now I think it's fairly easy, at least right now before free agency in the draft and things can always change, but to suggest that they look like the long shot in the NFC East for 2019. Yeah, I agree with that.

I've gone through this so many times, but the six and three really was going to be six and four, you know, if everybody stayed healthy. Alex Smith wasn't going to win that game. He had already put him in position to lose it. They were down two scores with two picks. You know, Colt McCoy. That pick six was a killer. Yeah, Colt McCoy came into the game and actually gave him the most life the offense

that had basically all season, or at least since the Green Bay game. And you know what's crazy that Jay Gruden told me about that Houston game? It seems like probably the biggest non-call that stuck with him all year. year was the Josh Doxon pass interference late in that game down the field. And because then if they get that call, make that kick or even score the touchdown, you know, then you're talking about seven and three and how different does everything see? Well, that's totally fair. I mean, you know, when you complain about officiating during the

course of a game, sometimes that's sour grapes. But when you talk about a call on the final play or one of the final two or three plays of a game. And in that particular game, if they make the right call, and remember, they said that following week that they messed up, that that was indeed a pass interference that should have been called. I'm talking about New York did. That's a walk-off field goal attempt. Maybe they don't make it, but Hopkins probably makes it, and they're seven and three. I guess I was referring more to if Colt McCoy didn't come in that game, and Alex Smith had stayed in, And they had that team that was six and three, they were going to be six and four. You know, they weren't going to have that opportunity more likely than not.

McCoy. You know what's crazy? And I don't know when we have to start doing this. But at some point, it's time to have the conversation of, hey, why are we so certain Colt McCoy can't run this team for 2019? Because when he was coming in for Alex Smith, a lot of people were excited. You know, it's hard to go back that far after the Mark Sanchez, Josh Johnson, everything that's happened. But, I mean, players, coaches, people were like, Bolt deserves his chance.

He's going to get his chance. I mean, who knows? Maybe his chance is coming week one, 2019, too. Yeah, I mean. That might be Fultz gold. I think I personally think it's Fools gold. I'm not suggesting that the offense won't work better with Colt McCoy than it did with Alex Smith, but I don't know that it's the kind of incremental gain necessary to be a really good

offensive football team, consistent offensive football team. Yeah, I think it's incremental but not sizable, and I think the turnovers become the issue, whereas Alex, as boring as a lot of it look, turnovers weren't an issue. Yeah. I guess the point that I was trying to make is it was going to be six and four in a game up in the division on the Cowboys, with the Cowboys looming on Thanksgiving. Day. And, you know, it could have been very quickly, you know, tied for first at six and at six and five, you know, and headed in the wrong direction, even if the team had been completely

healthy. And the thing that we often forget to, you know, point out is that the defense was in the midst of crumbling as well. It was nowhere near the defense it had been early in the year, and that was not necessarily injury-related because they had many fewer injuries. It was Clinton Dunbar. I don't think you can say that was injury-related at all. Dunbar was it. Not to mention the Cowboys had to Marri Cooper, who made a tremendous different. Yeah, Ionitis too, sure. Yeah, no, no, I agree.

That's why I think it's just we tend those that talk about it in terms of they were so close. And, you know, I'm sure whenever Bruce does speak, and I think that, you know, worst case, he'll speak Super Bowl Week somewhere, that he will talk about the, you know, 75 players on injured reserve and the return of all those players are going to give them the team that they had at six and three, and they're going to try to sell that along with whatever else they do in free agency and in the draft. Back to Minusky for a moment. What are they going to do? Is there anybody, they clearly don't want him, but he's under contract and they don't have anybody that will take the job. So where does this go from here? You boiled it down pretty well. It seems like it doesn't go anywhere, right? I mean,

they've got a guy and nobody else will come that they're interested in unless there's kind of I mean they're running out of rabbits to pull out of the hat maybe Marvin Lewis I don't see that a guy that's been a head coach for the past 15 years is going to come back to be a defensive coordinator for a guy that used to be his offensive coordinator if I was Marvin Lewis I'd take a year off and collect my thoughts I think they're running out of of big ideas I mean You know how many, and I know that folks are joking around about it, but how many Richie Pettibone jokes have you heard in the last week? They're running out of guys to try it out.

Yeah, you know, the Marvin Lewis thing, is he, does he have any, is he getting paid next year? I don't even know the answer to that question. Because I would assume that if he's getting paid next year. The Bens are not known for paying off coaches. Yeah, no, they're not. I want to say that he got kind of a one-year extension on one-year extension. But I don't know that. I'd have to try to dig that up.

Actually, he is under contract next year. No, my fault. It was a team option for 2019. So they didn't exercise that. So if he's looking to get paid in 2019, he'd probably have to take a coordinator position at this point. I have no idea what his relationship is with Jay Gruden. None. Do you? No, I don't. I mean, it seemed like although since you guys had a good relationship, I think they play two seasons ago or three seasons ago when they matched up with the AFC North. And I remember kind of asking Jay at the podium and Jay did his normal kind of huckster like, yeah, Marvin and I are good buddies, but want to beat him this week, whatever that was.

And I think, you know, the relationship with ownership was good from when he's had the one year under Spurrier or his decoordinator before he got that since he had jobs. So you would think there's at least an amicable relationship. I'm throwing that out there as speculation, but they've brought so many other guys in for these. They keep trying to act like they're just these casual meetings when my guess is they're finding out that these guys won't take the job so they don't want to make a job offer. But if they're clearly looking, he seems to be a guy on a list that's getting shorter and shorter. What are the next big announcements, newsmaking items? pit on one of them, and that is a defensive coordinator answer. You know, they're going to have to hire a special teams coach.

If they lose Olivadati, they're going to have to. But is the next big one a player, you know, when can they extend Brandon's sheriff? They can do that right now, correct? Or do they have to wait for the league year to start? I would think that this has to be a priority. I would think it's got to be a priority. But that's the team option. If I was them, and I imagine they would, because that's a team option, that gives them time to work towards an extension.

So you might not have to exercise that right away if you're in talks to get a long-term deal done. Right. Okay. If that makes sense. What about Preston Smith and James and Crowder? Do either one of them come back? I think Preston is going to get big money in the open market that the skins can't really match. I think Preston's a talented player who was probably better than the stats suggested this season, but has done enough over four years in D.C. You know, he's never missed a game. Everybody talks about Ryan Terrigan for that, but Preston is that same level of durability.

Crowder, I think they'd like to bring back, but I think that's going to be about money. What we've seen with Bruce Allen is there's a reluctance to spend money on pre-agency, both on their own guys and on getting new guys into the building. I would think with Crowder, the organization probably likes what they have in Trey Quinn. If he can stay healthy, maybe you can replace Crowder's production. Also, Crowder's been beat up. He's missed a good amount of time the last two seasons, and I think that will weigh into what the Redskins want to do.

Jay Gruden was very clear that he wants James and Crowder back. The Crowder can do a lot for you on the football field, but Jay Gruden is not making the ultimate call on this stuff. And the head coach is supposed to say he wants his guys back. It's for other guys in the organization to try to figure out what the money is. Do we know anything about Monta Nicholson right now? I don't. As far as the court situation.

Exactly. Because they've gotten... The same is a mess. It's a mess. It's a mess. I mean, you're right now, assuming they don't bring back and I don't think they will, ha-ha Clinton Dix, you know, you're looking at... I don't think they should.

No, I don't either. You're looking at, what, Deschay's? or Everett. Troy Apke? They spent a fourth round pick on him. He's very fast, Kevin. I know. I remember that from the combine.

What else did I have for you? Oh, back to the sheriff thing, because I didn't have the quick answer for you, and I just pulled up his contract. I guess my point was that do they want to enter 2019 with him at that point, maybe having

less incentive to cut a deal because he is a, you know, a UFA a year from now? No, they don't. They want to get that done. They have until, like you said, the beginning of the league year is early March usually. I think they're working on that. Not to mention, because of Alex's contract structure, it might have to kind of stagger out how they're going to pay Brandon Sheriff. And if they can get the big money for sheriff until, I guess,

20-21 would be advantageous for the team. I don't know that Brandon would push that off. I don't know what his representatives are looking for. There is other spots that can maybe open some money up. And, you know, Josh Norman, Vernon Davis, Jordan Reed, Zach Brown, those names come to mind as far as having a higher price tag than maybe what is expected for them to carry in 29. But a lot of that stuff is to come.

I don't, a lot of fans think they're going to get rid of Josh Norman. I don't think the money is quite good enough to cut him when you need corners anyway. Right. They take a $6 million dead cap hit to cut Norman and they'd save eight and a half on the cap. But next year those numbers get way more advantageous. I think it goes to like to 10 and four dead money versus cap. And I think you still need a corner. And you can say that Josh Norman hasn't performed through the contract he was signed.

I think you can say that pretty easily, but he's still the best corner of the Redskins have. And I'm not sure you just want to start over at that position either. I think the Redskins will draft a quarterback in the spring? Yes, yes. Early? They have to. How do they not? Yeah, I mean, I just, you know, it's, I think they have to also, but you don't draft a quarterback that you don't love. You've got to fall in love with somebody and feel like there's a little, you know, that there's a much better than not chance that he's your franchise quarterback moving forward.

You know, you can't. Do you have to do that for like a third rounder, though? No, but how, no, but when I said early, I'm talking about the first round. Do you think they'll take a quarterback in the first round? I mean, there's a lot to go here, but I think they'll, I think they are, would be nuts not to consider taking a quarterback in the first round if there's somebody there that they're absolutely in love with. I just don't know who in the organization other than Doug Williams is capable of evaluating the position. I guess Gruden, but they didn't even let them look at

the quarterbacks last year. You'd like to think, I mean, Kyle Smith is the highly touted talent evaluators. I'd like to think he can look at the QB position. But I totally agree with you and that's been a running argument on my podcast is if the skins do love a QB at 15, you absolutely take them because it's a position of need. And if your guy is there, you take them. There is a school of thought out there that I disagree with that this team is still too far away. You don't want to add a rookie quarterback with a lot of pressure into the organization. I think that's nuts.

I think if there's a good QB out there, they can change things for you on the field right away. I think that the owner is going to be more involved with this particular pick than maybe in recent years. I think there's going to be some desperation internally to try to create some forward momentum, to try to create a buzz. Does that mean Kyler Murray? The only thing that could make that happen is a quarterback. I mean, Kyler Murray for sure, but a quarterback in general in the first round is going to create some buzz. and I bet that if we both are right that the owner's been less involved in that kind of stuff in recent years my guess is he'll be more involved in it this year yeah I don't know that but

we all saw how things went with attendance and TV ratings and just the lack of the slightest hint of positivity surrounding this team and there's two ways to sell Hope. It's quarterbacks and coaches, and they're bringing the same coaching staff back together. All right. Follow JP on Twitter at J.P. Finley, NBCS. Listen to his podcast, his Redskins Talk podcast. You can get that anywhere. You get a podcast plus at NBCSports.com. And watch him on television, because he's good at that too. And congratulations on your newborn, on your new daughter. I hope everybody's well at home. Thank you, Kev. Appreciate it, man. All right, always great to catch up with JP.

And he's going to be in Mobile next week for the Senior Bowl, so we'll probably have him call in from there as well. You know, the Preston Smith thing was interesting that he just said, Aaron. I did not realize that that Preston Smith has not missed a game since he's been here. There's value in that. And I thought at times this year that Preston Smith did look like an improved player, but I think we've said that about him in the past, too. I think last year there were moments where Preston Smith really showed something.

I think it's the consistency more than anything else. And the fact that he, like Ryan Kerrigan, they're still lacking on this football team a true fear-inducing pass rusher. But if you lose Preston Smith, what do you have? Well, you've got Ryan Anderson, you know, and you still have Ryan Carrigan. So you'd have Ryan Anderson and Ryan Carrigan is the two outside. linebackers if you're still in the three-four. I think Pernell McPhee would still be under contract next year. And who else? I mean, I like Sean Dionne Hamilton on the inside. I don't know what they're going to do with Mason Foster. I don't think Zach Brown's coming back. Obviously Ruben Foster is a

wild card, but they've got, this is the thing. You look at their roster, and they've got major holes to fill. They're not the holes that you've had in the past necessarily, like you don't have any defensive linemen or offensive linemen of note. Those are the two areas you feel pretty good about. You've got to fix your guards position offensively. You know, you need another guard opposite Brandon Sheriff. And it can't be Sean LaValle next year. It just can't. In interior-wise, you've got not only you've got a good, you know, top three in Allen Payne and Ionitis, but you've got some rotation there with Settle. And you know, you saw some Caleb Brantley this year. You know, you, you've got some guys there. But you're in your linebacking core and in your secondary, you got a lot of

work. I mean, the Redskins have a lot of pieces that they must upgrade or they're going to be talent-wise in the division dead last. That's where they are right now, talent-wise. That's not even a debate talent-wise. They're dead last in the division right now. They have areas of strength, like the D-line and potentially the offensive line, an area that never seems to stay healthy, mind you, but it is a strength healthy, you know, fully healthy. But man, you've got, you know, the biggest position, the most important position on a roster, you've got major question marks a quarterback. You don't have a speed-wide receiver. The running back position, going to be very interesting to see what they do with Adrian Peter.

you hope that they hit gold with Darius Geis, but he's coming off an ACL injury. You've got issues at tight end, although Cooley loves himself some Matt Flanagan. He really loves Matt Flanagan, but Vernon Davis isn't coming back, more likely than not, and Jordan Reed, we'll see. But anyway, a lot of work to do, and, you know, we're going to get in here very soon before we know it, really starting next week with Mobile to start to learn about what. what this draft board's really going to look like, and then you've got the Indy Combine,

and you've got free agency, and the Redskins are going to have to make more inroads with free agency than they have in recent years. You know, it's not going to be good enough in February and March of 2019 to add Orlando Scandrick and Pernell McPhee and Paul Richardson. You know, those three, comps to those three aren't going to do it. just not going to do it. They need more than that in 2019. And there are places they can go in free agency to fill some of these holes. And Eric Schaefer is going to have to be really good at managing that cap and managing the contracts. And this is an area where they have excelled in recent years in particular. All right, real quickly, Ferris. Ferris Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Fairfax should be on your list if you're considering something new.

If you go to Farish Cars right now, FarishCars.com, that is, you'll see live inventory, their best deals, and live pricing. Farishcars.com, very easy to navigate website. So if you're thinking about a Dodge or a Jeep or a Chrysler or a Subaru, they've got a Subaru dealership as well, Farish Cars.com for everything you need. Also, right now, the best deals, Jeep Cherokee, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep, Rangler, and the RAM pickup. Farish Cars.com or ask for Ralph Perkins when you get to Farish. They're right there in Fairfax Circle. Let's bring in Jeff Irman from Inside MD Sports, covers the Terps, has for a long,

long time. You can follow him on Twitter. I do at Jeff underscore Erman. I'm, and I think you feel the same way. We're excited about this particular basketball team, and I do want to get to the basketball team here momentarily. But Tate Martel leaving Ohio State, to go to Miami was announced yesterday or last night. And all of a sudden, the field for Jalen Hertz has been reduced a little bit. And you're down now to Maryland, in Houston, and I guess Oklahoma. What's your latest understanding about the possibility that Alabama quarterback and transfer Jalen Hertz ends up in College Park?

Yeah, Kevin. So basically, as I understand it, It's a two-team race at this point. Maryland and Oklahoma, you know, it's kind of seesawed back and forth a little bit, I think. Maryland, obviously, you know, just to be in the mix against Oklahoma at this point is an accomplishment when you consider, I mean, what better sales pitch can you have? Not only besides being a national power, having the last two Heisman trophy winners, both of whom were transferred quarterbacks and, you know, going to college football playoffs, seeming every year. So, excuse me, so long story short, I think it's kind of a tug of tug of war between the two right now. I expect he'll decide quite possibly today. I'd probably give Oklahoma a slight

nod right now, but it's close. You know, Loxley's in there battling. What would Jalen Hertz bring to Maryland right, you know, in one season? We, you know, during the course of the season, I talked a lot about this, and you have as well, um, in, in your very very very, you know, in your very various, you know, areas of content that they have had, you know, for a couple of years now, but specifically this year, they've had some legitimate skill position talent. I mean, upper level skill position talent. But the quarterback's been a problem here for a couple of years. What do you think Hertz would bring to this program?

Would he make Maryland a, I'm not going to say a Big Ten East contender, but would he put them in position to win eight or nine games next year? You know, I think he would. I think that they have hope at very least for a winning season and a bowl, which hasn't happened in the past couple of years. They have one established quarterback, and established is probably a charitable adjective. When you talk about Terrell Piggrum, he was up and down last year.

He's obviously a talented guy, but he's not a proven winner necessarily. They didn't even start him until Matt Canada was forced to because of the injury to Kasim Hill. That's another story in and of itself. A lot of, you know, that one, that was a questionable choice of quarterbacks, but, you know, it would be huge on the field. And then almost, you could almost say just as important or more important, huge off the field, the credibility and the buzz and the spotlight that it would put on Maryland football.

you'd have people in media who don't even have any interest in Maryland or, you know, covering all the games as fans recruiting-wise. So I think just also for Mike Loxley, who's had kind of a slow start in the first few weeks after coming from Alabama, I think it'd be just as big from a exposure standpoint. Why is Josh Gattis the loss of Alabama assistant offensive coordinator, Josh Gattis, who was a sought-after OC candidate and a lot of of places and maybe you can walk through what happened last week, but it appeared as if Maryland was going to land Gattis and he ends up at Ohio State. I'm sorry, it ends up at Michigan. How did that happen? Well, that one was pretty much a done deal to Maryland. Gattis was for several weeks. We reported in the day, the day of when he eventually was hired by Michigan, we along with several others reported that he was headed to Maryland because he had an agreement in place.

And then, you know, according to Jim Harbaugh, after the fact, you know, his story was that he heard that day that Maryland was about to hire Josh Gaddis and made him, gave him a phone call at 10 a.m. and by 3 p.m. he was hired, which, you know, I don't necessarily believe that was the first contact that they'd had. I don't think it happened that quickly. The more likely version and the version that I've heard is that, you know, he had the agreement with Loxley. He shopped it around, started talking to Michigan within, you know, the final few days or week at most, and then went ahead and jumped ship before boarding ship to Michigan. So that's a big, it's a big loss for Maryland.

You know, he's not an established offensive coordinator. He's never been an offensive coordinator, but he's a big name. One of the fastest rising young assistants in the country. and more importantly, you know, it makes you scramble for your next replacement when you think you've got him all lined up. Back to Hertz for a moment. I'm just thinking this thing through. I know there's a relationship with Loxley. The way you spelled it out, it's Oklahoma. It's a guarantee, you know, it's almost a better than 50-50 shot that'll end up in the playoff. Their last two quarterbacks were not only Heisman trophy winners, but they were transfers as well. I mean, I would expect that wherever, Dalen Hertz lands. He's going to be in the top five, top six names in terms of Heisman trophy, you know, favorites. I mean, obviously Trevor Lawrence and Tua would probably be one, two in some order there for the Heisman next year. But Hertz is going to be on the list. Hell,

I think Anthony McFarlane, you know, could be on, if you went to a long list of Heisman hopefuls, Anthony McFarlane could be on that list next year. But I'm just sitting here thinking why I want him to come here. You want him to come here, but why would he? Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things are from the outside looking in. If you're not somebody who's followed it forever, you just immediately write Maryland off.

It's a relationship thing as recruiting often is. You know, he's been his three years and Loxley's three years at Alabama overlap. They were there together. They have a really good relationship better than anyone else who's recruiting him to their school. He's familiar with Loxley's offense. And so that that would be why. It's all about a relationship trusting that, you know, that he's going to provide the best avenue for you and

trust and things like that. Oklahoma, you go there, you never know. I mean, they're going to have other quarterback. You don't have that relationship with the coach. So that's what it comes. That's the whole pitch for Maryland and you need to overcome, you know, the obvious glaring disadvantages compared to Oklahoma in terms of profile and winning and all the other sorts of things. So it's a relationship play. What kind of coach do you think Loxley is going to be? Do you think, first of all, do we know will he end up calling plays? I didn't ask him that.

I had him on the podcast three weeks ago, I guess, shortly after he got hired. I don't think I asked him that. Is he going to call plays? That's a good question. I don't know if he will or not. I think he's pretty much got his new offensive coordinator. lined up, Scotty Montgomery, who was the head coach at ECU the past three years before that. I was offensive coordinator at Duke.

And so that's a good question. I haven't heard yet, in terms of what kind of head coach he, there'll be a lot of it depends on how these things right now, not, I don't want to say right now, but how these things unfold in terms of building his staff and getting players. You know, Maryland's a tough job, as you know, as well as anybody in that Big Ten East. It's just brutal, you know, anywhere else, say, in the ACC coastal like Miami and these other schools, you have a chance to make your move because you don't have Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State every year. But long story short, I think he's got potential to have success at Maryland just because of his familiarity with the area,

his ability to recruit the area. And, you know, the fact that he knows so many people locally, I think his recruiting will probably be even better than DJ Durkin. which was, you know, two top 25 classes in a row for the first time ever at Maryland. But on the other hand, you know, second time head coach. First time, obviously, was a disaster. So there's far from any guarantees of success. Yeah. I thought it was interesting when I had him on.

I asked, I think, you know, I'm paraphrasing now, but, you know, how Nick Sabins influenced him and being around Nick Saban. And he talked about that. And then he went out of his way to say that most of what he's learned. in terms of being a head coach came from working for Ralph Region. That a lot of that was where, you know, he credits Ralph for a lot, which, you know, it always completely baffles me why Ralph wasn't the coach after his final season and why they hired Raymond Anderson. Kevin Anderson, indeed.

All right, let's move to basketball real quickly. They're off to a six-and-one start in the Big Ten. They're ranked 19th in the country. Lunardi's Bracketology, Aaron, I don't know if you saw this yesterday. I don't know if I texted this to you. He's got Maryland now as a four-seed. He's got him as a four-seed in the tournament. And not only that, not only does he have him as a four-seed, Jeff. He's got them in the eastern region.

And do you know where the East Regional is this year? I do not. I should, but I don't. It's right here in Washington, D.C., at Capital One Arena. And there are no rules. I think the rules were changed many years ago. If Maryland's not the host and it's not their venue, they can play in the East Regional. It's three games they have to play. And obviously, they're not playing three games there this year.

So they can play the East Regional in D.C. Just a little bit of a projection. How about a one versus four Duke Maryland Sweet 16 game in D.C.? How good would that be? Oh, man. Can you imagine that crowd? Oh, my God. That would be incredible.

And, you know, Maryland fans deserve something. like that. I mean, they have just been so pit, well, and they haven't all been patient, but they've had to wait. They've had to be patient. Right. Had to wait through a long, uh, down cycle, you know, one sweet 16 in the past, uh, 12 or 13 years. And, you know, not to knock turgeon, but there hasn't been a lot of big March excitement during his tenure. So, you know, you feel like something like that's overdue. You feel like they're overdue for the kind of, uh, run that they've been on. You know, there's no guarantee. that it's going to continue, but, you know, with the way this team is playing,

I can't think of any team that he's had that has surged like this, you know, at the beginning of the new year. I think it's his best team. I, and I'll throw, you know, obviously the Mellow Robert Carter Jr., Rashad Suleman, Diamondstone, that team most would say, well, that team had more talent on it. I actually think this team is his best team. Do you agree or disagree? Yeah, I do agree. We actually talked about that on our podcast.

You know, that team had, I would say, had more mature talent, obviously. You know, at all those juniors and seniors, a lot of these guys are fresh, almost all of these guys are freshmen and sophomores except for Anthony Cowan. But, you know, I think we overestimated that team's talent a little bit just based on the lack of NBA futures of those guys. Jake Lemming is the only guy who's in the NBA and he's, you know, he's not a exactly a front-line NBA player. This team, I feel like, plays better together.

Guys play more to their roles. That's one of the underrated aspects about this team is everybody. You look at these guys. They all play their role. No one's trying to do too much. And, you know, when you have a guy like Bruno Fernando, who is as dominant as he's been, that changes the game. I mean, he's been so much better than he was last year.

there's so much better than any recent Maryland big man. And then the other thing is this team's got better depth. You know, Turgens is not playing a ton of guys off the bench, but you have guys who come in and you're not losing too much. Ricky Lindo's been a revelation. Dorel Smith's been solid. You know, as compared to that team, you're still kind of relying on Jared Nickens and Dionne Wiley at that point.

So I feel like that's a big advantage this team has also. I think Cowan's going to end up in the NBA someday. I've had this argument with friends of mine for going back to his freshman year. I think that that kind of speed, that kind of end-to-end speed isn't taught. He's got legitimate elite speed with the basketball. He's getting stronger. He's more of a creator than he's ever been. I don't know if it'll happen at 23 years old or 24 years old.

It may be when he's 26 or 27 after playing abroad or playing somewhere else. But I think one day he's a Jeff Teague or an Isch Smith on an NBA roster somewhere. And to me, you know, a lot of Maryland fans here over the last week, especially with some of Cowan's performances in the second half in particular. And you pointed this out on Twitter that he's averaging 19.3 points per game in the second halves of the last three games, which is amazing. But I actually think that he ultimately, or he has become in many ways. I'm not saying he's a first round pick or a second round pick. And Mello wasn't either, you know. But I think that Cowan is a better NBA prospect than Mellow Trimble.

And I'm not even saying that Cowan's a better college basketball player than Mellow Trimble was. Because I think Mello was spectacular at times. And even though his shooting disappeared a little bit, in some respects due to the injury that he had, you know, to his hamstring there for a year, a year and a half. But I think Cowan is an NBA talent down the road. Do you agree or disagree? I think he's got a chance. I think the biggest thing for him is the size question.

You know, he gets swallowed up pretty easily when he gets into the pain in the half court. In terms of running, you know, on the break, he's got the ability. But that would be my question. Can he play in the half court as an NBA point card? And can he defend bigger guys because he's obviously not the biggest guy. But he's got a chance. Like you said, he's one of the fastest guards out there.

It depends which cowen you're talking about, right? Because he's been two different guys. The first season, the first half of the season, I should say, he kind of struggled. And then in these games lately his first half, he's been a little clunky in the second half he's been an All-American. So if he can get to consistently play on that second half level he's playing at, I think, not only would he have a chance, but, you know, Maryland's potential is huge if he can keep, maintain that level. I mean, I remember watching Ish Smith at Wake Forest, and he was undersized, but he had this, you know, it was this blur at times of speed. And, you know, he had, I mean, he had seven, eight years, I think, in the NBA. He might still be in the NBA right now.

I think he's still in the league. Yeah, he is still in the league. Anyway, so I think this is a sweet 16 or better team. What do you think? I think they've clearly got the potential. It's so hard to predict not knowing what their draw will be. and just with how fluky the NCAA tournament can be, and with the fact that they're young, you know,

to me that's a scary thing, that you're that young going into a one-off tournament, and also the other thing is Bruno Fernando. Can he stay out of foul trouble, right? Because if he can stay in the game, you've got a chance against just about anybody. But that's always a concern with him. If he falls in, we saw the other day against Wisconsin

when he went out to the bench for 4,000 in-scissors. for 10 minutes. That was an extreme case, but clearly they have the potential, especially if they keep getting, you know, improving as they have been. I mean, I don't think anybody saw them at six and one in the Big Ten at this point in the season. The one thing that I would just love to see them do more of is I still don't think they play fast enough often enough. You know, I think they settle for walking the ball up court and trying to run a half court offense. And a league that's been known for grinded out basketball. And it's sometimes something I think they settle for more often than not. I would think I've not looked at the statistics. I would think that Maryland's got to be

one of the leading rebounding teams in the nation. And they probably have one of the bigger rebounding differentials in the nation. And they have the opportunity to run more. And they have the opportunity to run more, to push more. I'd like to see him take it out of the net and push it more. And they don't do it enough. That's the one complaint I have right now. I think that sometimes, you know, some of these close games may not have been as close.

I agree. I mean, that's the constant objection from fans, I think, is that they don't run more, has been for years, but especially this year when you have Cowan at the point. And you have guys like Jalen Smith. and Fernando, big men who can run the floor. And when they do run, it usually works out well for them.

So, you know, it goes against Turgeon's DNA as a coach. And so that's why I think they never seem to force the fast break. But, you know, I agree 100%. In terms of rebounding, they are killing it. I mean, I think they're second in the Big Ten, top ten nationally, and most rebounding categories behind Michigan State. And that's why, you know, next Monday's game will be really interesting to see those two teams.

It's going to be tough for Maryland. Michigan State. Michigan State hasn't lost them forever, but they're the one team in the Big Ten that can pound on the glass with them. Yeah, and, you know, they're going to catch Ohio State here Friday night. I think at the, you know,

the typical wrong time. You know, Ohio State coming off losses, the desperate team. They've had days to get ready for it. You know, it'll be almost a week since they played. What have they lost? Three in a row or two in a row? Three in a row.

Three in a row because they lost it. Right, because they lost at Rutgers too. So I, this could be a tough spot, but I'm, I mean, going into the stretch that Maryland just went into, Jeff, you know, before they played Nebraska at home and I'm looking at that schedule, I'm like, all right, Nebraska, Rutgers, Minnesota, let's get two out of those three. And then Indiana, Wisconsin, hopefully, you know, you can't do worse than a split there. And they've won all five of them. And if you go back to the Radford game, it's six in a row.

So I'm not putting anything past them. You know, one other thing I wanted to talk to you about is, you know, before this season started, you heard the same stuff that I heard, which is, you know, Stick Smith is a one and dunner, and Bruno's going after this year, et cetera. And you know what's interesting is these, you know, when college games actually start to get played, all of these mock drafts start to change so significantly. You know, neither one of them in several mock drafts are. lock first round picks. What are you hearing about Smith in particular? My guess is that

Bruno is going to go after this year, regardless of where he would get picked. But what are you hearing about Smith? Yeah, Bruno's gone. I mean, with the caveat that things change often, I mean, a few years ago, Mellow Trimble was quote, unquote, gone as a sophomore until he wasn't when he really didn't have much of a choice but to come back. And then last year, Kevin Hutter, I don't think this time of year even had given a thought to the NBA draft. Even late in the process, he had to be talked in to go into the combine, and we've seen what happened there.

So with that asterisk next to it, Bruno's gone. You know, there's just no chance. I don't think of him coming back. Jalen Smith, I think, will be back. You know, he's got a chance. He has been projected in the first round in some mocks. But, you know, we've seen this year that he really needs to get a lot. stronger. I mean, every time he, I don't want to say every time, but more often than not,

when he goes up inside against contact, he's not able to finish. And from what I've heard from some pretty good sources, I don't think he or his family are in a huge rush to get him to the NBA. So, you know, things can change in the blink of an eye, especially if you go to the combine and do well, but I think he'll be back next year. I'll be honest with you. I mean, I've watched like you have, a lot of college basketball here, especially over the last month. imagine that Bruno Fernando is not a top half of the first round pick by the time we get to June. It's just his improvement from last year. If you just took that jump from last year to this year and you projected forward, you know, similar jumps and improvement, he's a monster.

I mean, he is a legitimate, I mean, he looks the part and now he is the part NBA-wise. Yeah, he really does. And the other thing is he really hasn't. showcased his jumper that might. I agree. Yeah, he's really good. And he's got a little bit of face-up skill now, too, dribbling the ball. So, you know, he hasn't had, you know, he'll bust that out, you know, once a game at the most. But the ability is there.

And then the other thing, aside from the obvious physical attributes is that he's, he's a really good free throw shooter. Excellent. Big 10 play. He's shooting 86% from the line in Big 10 play, which is fourth in the conference for a guy. that size is pretty incredible. So I think once he gets to the combat, he's able to show some of these other things, I agree. I can't imagine how he's not at least the top 20 pick. The thing that you just mentioned about him is, I mean, I've wanted him to really be more aggressive, especially, you know, we know what he is when they run the offense through him in the low post.

I mean, right now he's a difficult check, almost impossible. And he's become a good passer out of the double, so many teams doubling him. I'd love to see that decision sometimes on the double made a little bit faster. But when they run it through him at the high post, I wish he would look at the rim when he turns and faces because he has a great stroke. In fact, I think both him and Smith had the ability to stretch you out to the three point line. We've already seen it with Jalen Smith. I think Bruno could shoot threes if he were in that position more often than and then imagine how open the floor is for Cowan and Morsell and the rest of them and Wiggins, etc. I mean, it's a uniquely talented team.

It's not the most talented team in the country, but there are very few teams in the country that have versatility with two bigs like Maryland does. Yeah, that's exactly what they have. It's unique. They have good guards, but everybody has guards, maybe not as good as Maryland, but there's a lot of good guards out there. it's hard to find bigs like those two guys, especially two of them together. And I agree, you know, he could easily be shooting more. I don't know if that's a product of Turgeon's system because Diamondstone, you know, he also had a pretty good jump shot and rarely showcased it.

Although, you know, Robert Carter was another big guy who shot the ball outside. So either way, I think that probably goes back to what I mentioned earlier about guys knowing their roles. You know, he doesn't force it even though he could shoot it from out there. So, I mean, I mean, he's just such a dynamic guy, and he's gotten so much more patient down low and so much better at passing out of the post. It's really going to be interesting to see what he can do, you know, the rest of the season. Hey, Jeff, real quickly, the Illinois game that's at Madison Square Garden a week from Saturday, I think. Is that just a requirement in the Big Ten that everybody's going to have to give up a home game to play in New York here over a stretch of years? years or not. That was my guess, but I didn't know that for sure. I don't think so. I think that that was a

separately organized deal between Maryland and Illinois. Don't quote me on that, but I don't think that was a Big Ten requirement like the Friday night games and football kind of thing. Well, why would Maryland do it? I know there's a lot of Maryland alum in New York. I get that. They probably more than any other maybe Michigan has more alum as they do in every major city. But Maryland's got to ton of alums in New York and Connecticut, New Jersey. But why would they give up a home game to do that? That's a good question, Kevin. I haven't looked into why.

I don't know if it's a money play or a marketing play or what. My bigger question is if you're going to do that, why Illinois? Do it for a marquee opponent that's going to get people fired up. It just seems kind of random to play that game there against Illinois. But, you know, I haven't dug that'd be interesting. I'd have to ask about that. why what the impetus behind that was. The other thing, too, is, and I've mentioned this a lot on the podcast and when I was on radio

too, and I've talked to people out there and maybe you have too. They have got to get the Big Ten to schedule them better with respect to start times when the students aren't there. These 630 and 7 o'clock start times are killers. You know, I heard somebody mentioning what a great crowd. I mean, Turgeon's been great in complimenting the crowd. You know this. You've been to all the big games.

I've been to all the big games out there. The crowds, the Friday night crowd was fine. I wasn't there. I heard it was a good, you know, non-student crowd. But Nebraska, the joint was half empty to start. It was the other night for Wisconsin because of the snow. And that wasn't an early start. That was a more weather-related problem.

But the Big Ten's interest should be in all of their venues, you know, having great attendance. And we are the only big city team in the Big Ten. I mean, Northwesterns in Chicago, but I'm talking about. talking about with a massive following and an 18,000-seat arena. These games in January, with the students not back, they need to be on weekends or later start times. I don't know why they can't get that done. Yeah, it's spot on. I think it's like you said, it's a unique problem for Maryland in the location and with the traffic that they have locally. And also it seems like their break is a lot longer. Some of these other schools are. A lot longer.

already back. Yeah, I mean, some of these other schools are already back in school or even have been for a few days, and Maryland doesn't come back to the 28th. A lot of these other schools, Jeff, don't have January terms. Maryland does. And so that's why the spring term doesn't start. I don't think until the end of this month, the very end of this month. It starts on the 28th, so there you're looking at what, four home games there, all with students out. And that has coincided. with this run that they've had. So that's the downside. But I guess the flip side would be

that when the students come back, they should be fully energized from seeing what the team's done while they've been away. Yeah, and they've got some good home games left. The first one would be Northwestern. They're not as good this year. But Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan, and then they finish up with Minnesota at home.

But that stretch of, you know, a game against Purdue, a game against Ohio State, and then a Michigan game on March 3rd, on a weekend against right now the number two team in America. That could be one of those home games that they typically have at least once or twice a year. Jeff, thanks so much for doing this. I love catching up with you. Follow Jeff on Twitter.

If you're a Maryland fan, most of you do already. But for those of you that are about to jump on board for this Maryland run in 2019, hopefully, Follow Jeff on Twitter at Jeff underscore Erman. It's Maryland 247 Sports.com and also inside MD Sports. He does a great job covering Maryland sports, Maryland basketball and football in particular. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks, man. Appreciate it.

Sounds great, Kevin. Thanks for having me. Good to catch up with Jeff Herman. He does a great job covering Maryland. And this has a chance here. You know, we didn't have it last year, really. had it a little bit, you know, the previous, you know, the mellow years with three straight tournaments. But this Maryland team has gotten off to quite the start.

And Bruno Fernando, actually, you know, as Jeff hung up, I did pull up the latest mock draft from NBA draft.net. A week ago or two weeks ago, only Bruno Fernando was listed and he was listed in middle part of the second round. Here's the update from after the last few games. Bruno Fernando's mocked number 12 overall to Minnesota. And then Jalen Smith is mocked 23rd overall to Boston. So now both of them are in the first round again. I've heard a lot of buzz lately about Boston really liking Jalen. If you've been watching Fernando, I said this to Jeff,

if you've been watching this guy and you've been watching other college basketball, there are some really good performances. is obviously Zion Williamson. I think R.J. Barrett looks to me like a lock number two. The guy at Murray State's putting on a show this year, the guy Jah Marant. I like the kid from Gonzaga, the guy that's half Japanese. He's really good. I don't like Cam Reddish as much.

I know he's been mocked out top five. That would be three Duke players in the top five. I don't love Reddish. I think he should come back personally. There are a lot of great performances. DeAndre Hunter, Virginia, looks to me like a lottery pick, definitely. But Bruno Fernando, there is nobody other than Zion Williamson right now in college basketball that looks more the part physically.

He is just one big, strong dude. Zion's what, 270? Something like that, yeah. Bruno's every bit of 250, 260, isn't he? At 610, 611? I think so. And he's got some skill. I mean, he's got some low post moves.

And as Jeff said, he can face and knock down shots. His list of weights 240. 240? Yeah. God, he looks even bigger than that. Anyway, going to be an interesting next couple months. Look, with the Wizards struggling, although, you know, that game tomorrow is on at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Got something to watch at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the game from London. I don't know if you saw the media hoard over there that's covering this Nick's Wizards London game tomorrow. The caps all of a sudden have fallen apart recently. They've lost a couple in a row. They got torched last night against Nashville. You know what's interesting is this is my move when it comes to hockey this time of year is I will always, you know, flip it on if it's a really good game. Like I've watched the caps against the penguins and some of the bigger games when it hasn't been opposite a good basketball game. I'm always going to go basketball other than hockey.

It's just not even close for me. But my go-to move in these situations is to check. out the standings to see where the caps relate to everybody else. Doc used to make fun of me because he's like nobody's better at, you know, recapping the standings than you. With hockey, it's true. It's one of my go-to moves. And I like to look at goal differential as sort of a reflection of the power of the team. And what I found this morning with the caps on a three-game losing skit is, first of all, they're not, they're just tied for first in the Metropolitan with Columbus, who they lost to an overtime the other day.

The Islanders and the Penguins are right there, just three points behind both of them. With Barry Trots, I think the Islanders are coming to town here soon. Well, on Friday. So there's a chance Barry Trots could take the lead in the division by beating the Capitals on Friday in the building. Does he play a game before? Does he play a game before? He'd have to play a game before. He's three points behind right now.

Oh, is it three now? Yeah, he's three. They're at 56. They have a game against the Devils Thursday night, and then they come to Washington Friday night. So they could. They could potentially. But what's really interesting when you just peruse the NHL standings is to see what the Tampa Bay Lightning are doing. They are not only the best team in hockey.

They are the best team in hockey by miles, record-wise, goal differential-wise, etc. Their record is 36 wins, nine losses, and two overtime losses. They've got 74 points through 47 games played. The next closest is Calgary, who's got 64 points. Calgary in the Western Conference Pacific Division. They're 10 points better than the second best team in hockey right now. Their goal differential plus 58. No one's close to that.

Calgary is the second best at plus 40. So an 18 goal differential difference between, Tampa and the second best Calgary. The caps have only a plus 18 goal differential. In fact, you know, Pittsburgh's ate better than them in gold differential

just in the division. But think about the difference between the caps and Tampa in goal differential. There's a 40 goal differential difference. 40 goals different than the caps. Tampa Bay, we had Joe B on the show

a month ago. Around there, yeah. Right around that Pittsburgh game, that last epic Pittsburgh game. And he said Tampa Bay is the best team in hockey. Now, how that plays out when you get to a best of seven and you've got the defending champions potentially in an Eastern Conference final series against Tampa Bay. But he said that Tampa is the best team in hockey. Tampa was arguably the best team last year too. And you saw what happens. Hockey playoffs can get a little fluky.

They get a lot fluky. Yeah. But the, you know, the capitals have had these, you know, these up and down moments during the season. You know, win three, lose three. In fact, I'm looking at their schedule right now. Didn't even realize that it was actually that. Actually, it's not exactly that.

They won four, then they lost three. Then they won three, and now they've lost three. So, time to win three or four in a row, starting with the Islanders and Barry Trots on Friday night. I mentioned that I was going to talk a little college basketball, other college basketball. Virginia's sensational. I think personally he's the best coach in the country.

And if he's not the best, he's on the list of the top five. You know, if you want to put Shoshchewski there, if you want to put Izo there, I'd put both of them there. I'd certainly put I'd certainly put Izo there. I personally think John Beeline is in the conversation of the top five coaches in the country. You know, from a pure X's and O's standpoint, I don't put John Calipari in that group. I don't. I think if you take the whole program recruiting, et cetera, he's there. I feel very strongly, as I always have, about Matt Painter being one of the most underrated coaches in the country, I believe he is.

I think Jay Wright's done an incredible job at Villanova. I think Buzz Williams is doing a great job at Virginia Tech, and I loved him at Marquette. I think he is a really good coach. But, man, does Tony Bennett get more out of less? And Virginia's talented. Don't get me wrong. I'm not criticizing their talent. They're very talented. They've got NBA talent. You know, they haven't always had NBA talent. But DeAndre Hunter is, you know, a lottery pick potentially. I think Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy both have NBA range for sure. These dudes can just flat out shoot it. They are just annihilating people. They don't play close games against. conference foes. I mean, the last close game they had was against Wisconsin. That must have been in the AC, no, they played Maryland in the ACC. Their last close game was Maryland. They beat Maryland by five in College Park. And you know what? If Maryland had the team they have right now playing Virginia,

but then again, Virginia might be better right now. Virginia beat Virginia Tech the number nine team in the country by 22 last night. They beat Clemson by 20. They beat Boston College by 27. They beat Florida State by 13, but at one point they were up by like 28. I mean, Florida State had 28 points at one point late, you know, midway through the second half. They played Duke Saturday, and Duke's got some injuries, but that will be right now, that's the marquee game of the college basketball season to date. Virginia at Duke on Saturday in Durham, you know, 6 o'clock, showcase kind of game on ESPN. When does Michigan State play Michigan? That's going to be a marquee game. That's coming soon, I would think. Michigan's... 24th. They don't play until February 24th. They play twice within

two weeks towards the end of the season. They play each other twice over the final four games of the season. Yeah. But you really, you got to give Virginia. I mean, I think I mentioned this earlier in the show. They play low possession games. You know, they're very patient. They play that pack-line defense. Teams have to work really hard to get a good shot. It ends up being a lower possession game. And in 40-minute, you know, games, college basketball to me is too short. It's the one sport I'd lengthen a little bit. I'd add two minutes to each half. I think these games are over too quickly. You know, you go to games sometimes, and they are over in an hour and 55 minutes. In under two hours, it's not unusual for a college basketball game to end in under two hours.

I think from just an entertainment standpoint, I think you could stretch it out a little bit. They're far too quick these college basketball games. But in Virginia's case, you take the fact that these games are short to begin with, and then you turn them into low possession games. You know, that's where you're one night of a bad shooting night against UMBC from being bounced. I would be shocked if this Virginia team doesn't go deep, deep, deep into the tournament. And maybe finally they get their national championship team. None of the Ralph teams made the national championship game.

There were two Final Four teams with Ralph. I'm sorry, there was one Final Four team with Ralph. And then the year after Ralph left, Virginia made it back to the Final Four. Virginia, I've always felt in the ACC was the sleeping giant. I've always felt that they should always be great in basketball. and they have been under Tony Bennett, but they still haven't gotten that March success. Maybe they can just run into UMBC again this year.

I think it's coming. They're one of the ACC teams I never had a problem with. I mean, some of their fans are obnoxious, but I root for Tony Bennett. I love the way he coaches. They're fun to watch. I wanted to go back to one thing because during the course of the show,

my son sent me the following text. He said, did you end up looking at the Redskins' Twitter page, which I talked about earlier, you know, the wide receiver tweet. He made the note, he said, not only does it, you know, are you talking about drafting a receiver? He said, it just sheds light on the fact that we totally bombed out on the other first round receiver pick that we took in Josh Doxon, which is a good point.

But he mentioned that Barstool Sports, which he's a massive fan of, they're now selling hashtag Fire Bruce Allen and drain the swamp T-shirts. A new hashtag has now gained steam, hashtag boycott Redskins. Yeah. We've actually gotten some directed at our Twitter here. Oh, we have? Yes. Okay.

So there is that. No update on Bryce Harper, right? No, other than winter storm Harper is coming through. They've named it Harper, so everyone's making, oh, look, when Harper is heading to New York. Do you mean the storm over the weekend? Yep. Yeah, right now, I don't think that's for us a big one. Now, it looks like it's going north, which is why people are making the old look.

Harper to New York jokes. Yeah, well, even I think the East Coast big cities, you know, the Boston, New York, Philly, D.C. corridor is not in line for a massive snowstorm. There could be some snow and some ice. It's frigid on the backside of the storm. I haven't looked at the information for today. So that could change. These weather forecasters, they get so wrapped up in being so definitive five days before a storm, and it always changes. It always changes. Last week's storm completely changed. Real quickly, launchworkplaces. Go to launchworkplaces.com. If you're thinking about trying to find a place to get some work done outside of the home. If you're one of those people

that works from home and the dogs bark too much or the kids are too loud at times and you need a place to go for just a desk or a small office, check out the new launch workplaces in Bethesda. They have fully furnished offices, conference rooms. It's a beautiful new space, co-working desks, high-speed internet, complimentary drinks at cafe, 24-7 access, and free parking. You can get more work done today by moving your office to launch workplaces. Call today for an exclusive free two-day trial, 24086714, 24086714, or launchworkplaces.com. Aaron did a great job today. Thanks to J.P. Finley for joining the show.

Thanks to Jeff Erman for joining the show. Back tomorrow, Tommy, you'll be with me and we'll start previewing the two championship games. Have a great day.